A health literacy training intervention for physicians and other health professionals

Health literacy is a key factor in communication between patients and health care professionals of all kinds. Improving the training of health professionals about patients' health literacy is a national priority that remains understudied. We sought to examine the effects of a health literacy training on physicians and nonphysician health professionals.

We used a pre-/post-intervention self-reported assessment of knowledge, perceived skills, and current and intended behaviors vis-à-vis communicating with patients who have limited health literacy to evaluate the effects of a 3.5-hour health literacy training intervention designed to improve communication with such patients for the entire staff of a single family medicine residency program clinic.

A total of 58 health professionals participated. Complete data were available for 45 individuals (11 physicians and 34 nonphysicians). Forty-eight percent reported having initially overestimated their pre-training understanding of health literacy issues. Mean ratings significantly improved on all 12 knowledge, perceived skill, and intended behavior items. Results varied by health profession, with physicians reporting less positive change on several items. Among physicians, the training impact varied by years of experience.

Health literacy training for health professionals can improve self-perceived knowledge, skills, and intended behaviors, but results may vary between physicians and nonphysician health professionals and by years of experience. More research is needed to identify ideal instructional strategies for teaching health professionals about health literacy.